Disk drive cartridge door

ABSTRACT

A cartridge for a magnetic disk drive has a rigid shell and a flexible door which covers an opening through which read/write heads engage the recording medium. The flexible door is guided outside of the shell to an open position as the cartridge is inserted into the drive. A projection on a flexible arm in the drive catches a hole in the flexible door to open it as the cartridge is inserted into the drive. The door which opens along the outside of the cartridge conserves space so that the recording medium can be large for a given form factor drive.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent application is a Continuation of Ser. No. 08/834,256 filedApr. 15, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,768,074 issued Jun. 16, 1998, whichis a Continuation of Ser. No. 08/550,819 filed Oct. 31, 1995, now U.S.Pat. No. 5,671,109 issued Sep. 23, 1997, which is a Continuation-in-Partof Ser. No. 08/482,010, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,570,252 issued Oct. 29,1996.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to data storage drives and more particularly, toa removable cartridge for magnetic disk drives.

Magnetic disk drives which write and read digital data from flexiblemagnetic disks have been extensively used. "Floppy disk drives" havebeen extensively used for small, so-called microcomputer systems, forword-processing applications and the like. The flexible disk cartridgeincludes a relatively thin, flexible jacket which is inserted into thefloppy disk drive.

Rigid disk drives, such as the IBM 3350, usually have a fixed rigidmagnetic media. The magnetic heads do not contact the magnetic surface,but ride on a thin film of air. Because of this, and other features,these disk drives are capable of extremely precise and high speedoperation. This type of disk drive is commonly referred to as a"Winchester" drive. Rigid disks enclosed in a rigid, removablecartridge, or shell have also been used. U.S. Pat. No.4,864,452--Thompson, et al is an example of such a drive.

"Bernoulli" disk drives having performance characteristics similar tothat of Winchester drives, but with removable cartridges, have beendeveloped. A flexible magnetic disk is enclosed in a rigid box which isnormally completely closed. U.S. Pat. No. 4,400,748--Bauck, et al andrelated patents to the common assignee show such drives using Bernoullistabilized flexible disks. U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,173--Jones et al andrelated patents to a common assignee, show improvements which relate toso-called "half height" drives.

The cartridges for these drives have a door which closes the cartridgewhen it is removed from the drive. This prevents debris fromcontaminating the magnetic recording medium when the cartridge is not inthe drive. When the cartridge is inserted into the drive, this doorslides to an open position to provide access for the magnetic recordingheads to engage the recording medium.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,216,558--Griffith, et al shows a drive for a rigidcartridge in which the cartridge door slides to an open position insideof the cartridge. In the aforementioned Thompson, et al patent, the dooralso slides to an open position inside the cartridge. In these drives,and in the cartridges used therein, space is at a premium. The cartridgehas a narrow width into which the door must fit. This width isconstrained by the relative size of the disk drive form factor. Also,the size of the disk relative to size of the casing severely limits theamount of room which is available inside the cartridge. It is desirableto have the disk occupy as much space within the cartridge as possible.This provides the maximum data storage capacity for a given drive formfactor.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a cartridge with asliding door which optimizes the amount of space available for therecording medium for a given form factor drive.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the present invention, a thin, flexible door slidesin narrow parallel tracks in the two halves of the cartridge shell. Thedoor travels in tracks which guide the door outside of the cartridgeparallel to the side of the cartridge when it is inserted into thedrive. This exposes the disks in the cartridge for access by read/writeheads.

A small projection on the end of a flexible arm catches the cartridgedoor, which is initially in its closed position, and pulls it out andalong side the cartridge into the open position as the cartridge isinserted into the drive. The flexible arm insures that the projectionwill catch the cartridge door no matter where the cartridge is locatedin the drive opening. Special curved surfaces around the smallprojection control its penetration into a groove along the cartridgeside.

The narrow space constraint into which the door must fit is caused bythe relative size of the drive form factor and the disk size in thecartridge. Because the door slides outside of the cartridge, spaceinside of the cartridge is conserved.

The foregoing and other features, advantages and objects of theinvention will be better understood from the following more detaileddescription and appended claims.

SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a top view of the cartridge of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a front view of the cartridge;

FIG. 3 is an isometric view of the cartridge with the door closed;

FIG. 4 is an isometric view of the cartridge with the door open;

FIG. 5 shows an isometric view of the cartridge with the top shellremoved;

FIG. 6 shows the drive;

FIG. 7 shows the drive with the cover removed;

FIG. 8 shows the projection which opens the door;

FIGS. 9A-9C are top, front and right side view of the projection;

FIG. 10 is an isometric view of another embodiment of the projection ofFIGS. 9A-9C;

FIG. 11 is a broken away perspective view of a preferred embodiment ofthe invention with the door in the closed position;

FIG. 12 is a cross-section of the cartridge of FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 is a broken-away perspective view of the cartridge of thepreferred embodiment with the door in the open position;

FIG. 14 is a cross-section of the cartridge of FIG. 13; and

FIG. 15 is a top-plan view of the cartridge with the top shell and disksremoved.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIGS. 1-5 show a cartridge having two half shells, a bottom half shell11 a top half shell and 12 joined together at 13. The cartridge has afront 14, a back 15 and two sides 16 and 17 between substantially flat,planar surfaces 18 and 19. An opening 20 in the front of the cartridgeprovides access by the read/write heads 21 (FIG. 7) to the recordingdisks 22, 22A (FIG. 4). A flexible door 23 covers the opening when thecartridge is removed from the drive.

Track 24 (FIG. 4) and a corresponding track 25 (FIG. 1) in the top halfshell, guide the door outside of the shell when the door is opened. Thetracks extend along the front 14 and guide the door to a position alongone side 16 of the shells when the door is opened. The flexible door 23slides in the tracks from a closed position, shown in FIG. 3, in whichit covers the opening 20, to the open position as shown in FIG. 4. Thedoor 23 slides along the outside of the shell along the side 16 when thecartridge is inserted into the drive. The spring 26 biases the door intothe closed position.

The cartridge has a small radius 28 at the corner between the side 16and the front of the cartridge. A straight section 29 is between thesmall radius 28 and the large radius 30 at the front of the cartridge.The door is sufficiently flexible to follow the door tracks around thelarge radius 30, through the straight section 29, and the small radius28.

The door 23 has a width approximately co-extensive with the width of theshell. The length of door 23 is sufficient to cover the opening 20 inthe closed position and short enough to fit along the side 16 of thecartridge when it is in the open position. The length and width of thedoor are constrained by the form factor of the drive and the size of therecording disks 22 and 22A which occupy most of the interior of thecartridge.

The flexible door 23 has a hole 32 (FIGS. 3 and 4) at the end thereof. Aprojection 38 on the drive catches the hole 32 when the cartridge isinserted into the drive to pull the door to the open position. A groove34 in the corner of the cartridge, at the end 24A of track 24, guidesthe projection to the hole 32.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show the drive. A projection 38 (FIG. 8) on the flexibleL-shaped arm 36 catches the hole 32 when the cartridge is inserted intothe drive.

FIG. 8 shows the projection 38 in more detail. Special features includecurved surfaces 42a and 42b on both sides of surface 42 from which theprojection 38 extends. These surfaces control the penetration of theprojection 38 into the groove 34 along the cartridge side. This ensuresproper engagement of the projection 38 and hole 32.

FIGS. 9A-C and 10 show, top, front, side and isometric views,respectively, of the flexible arm 36 on which the projection 38 ismounted. The flexibility of arm 36 ensures that the projection 38 willcatch the hole 32 in the door no matter where the cartridge is locatedin the slot 40 in the drive. This variation in cartridge location iscaused by normal manufacturing tolerances.

FIGS. 11-15 show a preferred embodiment of the invention in which theconnection between the clamping mechanism and the door is a member 43which is rotatable about the axis of the disks. Rotatable member 43 hasan arm 44 extending radially toward the door 23. The terminal end of arm44 is connected to the door by the wire 45. (FIGS. 13 and 15). Wire 45is disposed in an opening 46 in the arm. The wire telescopes into andout of the opening 46 as the door travels through its stroke. Thisaccommodates the varying radial distance to the door throughout itsstroke.

A protrusion 47 on the arm has a spring 48 which provides the closingforce needed to close the door through the last portion of its travel.The spring 48 has a bent end 49 which travels in the arcuate path 50.The arcuate path has a notch 51 at the closing end thereof. As the bentend 41 travels along arcuate path 50, it drops into the notch 51 at theclosing end of the door stroke. This provides the extra force necessaryto close the door.

Arcuate path 50 is a depression in the face of the cartridge. Thisdepression has a cover 52 (FIG. 13) so that the spring 48, and its bentend 49 travel in a closed path.

Other embodiments are within the true spirit and scope of the invention.The appended claims, are therefore, intended to cover all suchembodiments.

What is claimed is:
 1. A cartridge for a disk drive in which read/writeheads are provided for reading and recording information, said cartridgecomprising:a shell having a front edge, a back edge, and two side edgesbetween substantially flat planar surfaces, the front edge of said shellhaving a convex portion that protrudes outwardly from the front edge ofsaid shell, said two side edges being substantially planar; a rotatablerecording medium in said shell upon which information may be written orread; a first opening in the convex portion of the front edge of saidshell, whereby access to the recording medium is provided to saidread/write heads; a thin movable door covering said opening in theconvex portion of said shell when said door is in a closed position; anda catch connected to said door, said catch being engageable by aprojection of said drive; and a groove in the outside of said cartridgebetween said front edge of said shell and one side edge of said shell,said groove guiding said projection to said catch, said groove beingextended along said one side edge, said catch being moveable along saidgroove as said cartridge is inserted into the drive, thereby pulling thedoor to an open position in which said door does not cover said openingin the convex front portion of the front edge of the cartridge.
 2. Thecartridge recited in claim 1 further comprising:a second opening in saidone side edge of said cartridge, said catch being exposed through saidsecond opening when said door is in the closed position.
 3. Thecartridge recited in claim 1 wherein said groove guides said projectionto said catch.
 4. The cartridge recited in claim 1 wherein the catch,and the door, move outside of the cartridge along said one side edge asthe cartridge is inserted into the drive.
 5. The cartridge recited inclaim 1 wherein said shell is rigid.
 6. The cartridge recited in claim 1wherein the shape of said convex portion of the front edge of saidcartridge comprises a small radius curve adjacent the forward end of oneof said side edges of the shell, a large radius curve in the middle ofsaid front edge, and a straight section between said small radius curveand said large radius curve.
 7. The cartridge recited in claim 1 whereinsaid shell comprises two portions joined along said front, back and twoside edges.
 8. The cartridge recited in claim 1 wherein said door has awidth approximately co-extensive with the width of said shell.
 9. Thecartridge recited in claim 1 further comprising:a member rotatable aboutthe axis of said recording medium, said member being connected to saiddoor; and a spring connected to said member for returning said door tosaid closed position when said cartridge is removed from said drive. 10.The cartridge recited in claim 9 further comprising:a protrusion on saidmember; and an arcuate path for said spring, said spring having a bentend, said bent end traveling in said arcuate path as said door movesfrom the open to the closed position.
 11. The cartridge recited in claim10 further comprising:a notch at the end of said arcuate path, said bentend of said spring traveling into said notch to provide the force toclose said door through the last portion of travel of said door to itsclosed position.
 12. The cartridge recited in claim 10 furthercomprising:a cover for said arcuate path, said spring traveling in thecovered arcuate path as said door moves between the open and the closedposition.
 13. The cartridge of claim 1, wherein said shell issymmetrical about a plane bisecting said shell at a midpoint between thetwo side edges, and extending parallel to said side edges andperpendicular to the substantially flat planar surfaces of said shell.14. A cartridge for a disk drive in which read/write heads are providedfor reading and recording information, said cartridge comprising:a shellhaving a front edge, a back edge, and two side edges betweensubstantially flat planar surfaces, the front edge of said shell havinga convex portion that protrudes outwardly from the side edges of saidshell, said two side edges being substantially planar; a rotatablerecording medium in said shell upon which information may be written orread; an opening in the convex portion of the front edge of said shell,whereby access to the recording medium is provided to said read/writeheads; a thin, movable door covering said opening in the convex portionof said shell when said door is in a closed position; and a catchconnected to said door, a second opening in one of said side edges nearthe junction of said one side edge and said front edge of said shell;said catch being exposed through said second opening in said one sideedge of said cartridge when said door is in the closed position, saidcatch being engageable by a projection of said drive and movable outsideof the cartridge along said one side edge as the cartridge is insertedinto the drive, thereby pulling the door to an open position in whichsaid door does not cover said opening in the convex portion of the frontedge of said shell.
 15. A cartridge for use in a disk drive, the diskdrive including read/write heads for reading and recording information,the disk drive defining an opening permitting the cartridge to beinserted into the disk drive, the cartridge comprising:a shell having afront edge, a back edge, and two side edges, the front edge of saidshell having a convex portion that protrudes outwardly from the sideedges of said shell, said two side edges being substantially planar, thefront edge defining a first opening in said convex portion, one of saidside edges defining a second opening proximal a junction of said oneside edge and said front edge; a rotatable recording medium in saidshell upon which information may be written or read; a door movablebetween an open position and a closed position, the door covering saidopening in the convex portion of said shell when the door is in saidclosed position, the door not covering at least a portion of saidopening in the convex portion of said shell when the door is in saidopen position and thereby permitting said read/write head to access therecording medium when the door is in said open position and when thecartridge is inserted into the disk drive; a catch connected to saiddoor, at least a portion of said catch being exposed through said secondopening in said one side edge of said cartridge, said catch beingmovable relative to said shell outside of the cartridge between a firstposition and a second position, said door being in said closed positionwhen said catch is in said first position, said door being in said openposition when said catch is in said second position, a projection of thedrive engaging said catch when the cartridge is inserted into the driveand moving said catch from said first position to said second post asthe cartridge is inserted into the drive.